Can You Put Hardwood Floors Over Plaque Flooring?

Hardwood and Plaques

• Plaques are used in flooring for both information and design. Some plaques are imprinted in floors to show certification, awards or designation. Many plaques are used in cement or ceramic tiles. Some ceramic tiles are individually imprinted or painted as plaques for a much more complex design. Unfortunately, wood flooring cannot be installed over these floor plaques without risking damage.

Hardwood Subfloors

• The subfloors that hardwood floors need are limited. If you have cement or ceramic plaques, you will need to remove them before trying to nail or glue down your hardwood. The ideal subfloor for a hardwood flooring project is plywood or a similar wood base. Many manufacturers also suggest installing fiber cement board or other materials. Either way, installing over plaque is not typically possible.

Subfloor Necessities

• The reasons that hardwood floors need such specific subfloors comes down to moisture and adhesion issues. The last thing you want is moisture getting trapped between your old floor and new floor, where it can cause rot and mold. Floors with plaques in them do not have the proper moisture resistant properties to prevent this problem. Also, glue-down hardwood floors will not adhere to plaques properly, and you cannot nail into ceramic materials.

Engineered Wood

• Engineered hardwoods are not true hardwood floors. They are made from fiberboard materials with a layer of hardwood on top. Among other things, this allows the engineered flooring to be installed as a floating floor, without any direct connection to the floor beneath it. If you have plaques unobtrusively installed in wood flooring, you may be able to add a floating engineered floor on top of them, but this is a rare exception.